Clentine:
They were all staring at my face now.
"What did you say your na was?" Troy asked the quiet guy, who kept staring at with his eyes half open.
"Ian," he whispered under his breath. His black long hair was flowing with the wind, short leather gloves not hiding the fact that he had his fists clenched.
"You know what this trial is about, right?" Riv asked him, since he had missed the dinner as well.
"This is the final test before we get fully accepted. There are black flags placed around the field. The color black represents our Squad. So ogres, who were previously caught in the North, are roaming the area. Our goal is to collect all the black flags without getting caught or killed by the ogres, and then reach the big black flag at the end. If we manage to collect the flags but can’t make it to the big black flag, we can go under any other colored flag and beco roommates with the people who reached that flag. You can have as few as one roommate or as many as six, but no more than that," he finished, explaining it to in the simplest way.
He then looked at and grunted, "I don’t want her to be a part of our Squad."
My body shuddered when their eyes shifted back to . They all looked up and down.
"Let’s see, we should just focus on our mission for now," Riv was the first one to sort of not disagree with Ian.
I noticed the look Ian gave her. It was so deadly, as if not agreeing with him would make her his next target.
"You want her in the dorm room?" Yorick asked her, making roll my eyes at him. Ever since our breakup, he has caused problems for . I couldn’t even leave my packhouse for a run for a month because he would find with his goons and bully .
"I an, who else will do our chores? I heard we won’t be given any room service. Don’t we all need a slave?" Riv, who I thought was the only one with a little sympathy for , cleared that misunderstanding too. She only wanted a slave for her royal self. Little did she know, I don’t even do my own chores.
"She’s right," of course Haiden agreed. He would love to have just to bully again. I was his personal punching bag, I had always been one. Every ti sobody crossed him, he’d look for just to take his anger out.
Suddenly, we heard the heavy footsteps of an ogre nearby, and it hit us, we had been wasting precious ti.
"Okay, let’s go," Troy announced, ready to climb the ditch. However, the first step I took, I stepped on my untied shoelace and face-planted right between them.
"She is so clumsy," Yorick groaned, others snickering at his comnt. It wasn’t a lie. I am a dumbass.
I sat on my knees and pulled my foot forward, trying to tie my shoelace. I’ve learned things on my own. There was a variety of stuff I was good at, but tying shoelaces was definitely not one of them.
I tried and tried, getting anxious as I watched Yorick climb the dirt wall and help Riv up. Haiden did it effortlessly too. And then there was Ian—climbing seed to be his thing. One second, he was standing with us, the next, he was standing tall above the ditch.
"Ugh!" I got up just as Troy knelt down and grunted, "If you’re going to be a bad guy, be a bad guy and do your own shoelaces."
I never asked him to help . But just like old tis, when he used to co to my packhouse before school and tie my shoelaces, there he was—on his knees, tying them for .
Watching him do that after all these years was emotional, yet I had no tears in my eyes. He got up and hissed at before walking over to the wall and climbing it.
Did he still care?
Well, I had no ti to think about the past. I reached the wall and soon realized climbing was another thing I wasn’t good at. Dust filled my lungs as I looked up at the steep walls of the ditch. The ground was loose, slipping away with every move I made. I had to climb out and fast. I was wasting ti.
It took a few falls and many attempts to finally reach the top. I rolled over and lay on my back, smiling in quiet victory when sothing caught my eye.
I pulled myself out of the ditch, my hands covered in dirt. My arms ached, and my legs felt heavy, but I was out. The sun hit my face, and I took a deep breath.
Then I saw him.
The ogre!
It was huge, taller than anyone I had ever seen. His skin was green and grey, and his muscles looked like big rocks under his skin. His eyes had a faint glow, and he looked furious. When he walked, the ground shook.
My heart started racing. I felt cold inside, like fear was squeezing my chest. I knew I had to move fast and get to my feet.
I saw the black flags scattered around the field. They were mine. Other Squads were running too, each chasing different colored flags—red, blue, green. But mine were black.
I started running.
The wind hit my face, and dirt flew behind . I saw the first flag near a rock and grabbed it without slowing down. Another one was near a small tree. I reached it quickly, took it, and kept going.
The ogre was close. I could feel him, even without looking. One of his arms swung near . I ducked. The air from it was strong, but it missed .
I was frozen for a few seconds before the adrenaline hit , and I realized, if I didn’t run for my life, I’d be dead, crushed by the ogre.
I kept running, fast and light. My legs knew what to do. My hands grabbed flag after flag. I didn’t trip. I didn’t slow down. This was what I was good at. Running. Catching. Moving fast.
Once I had enough black flags, I decided to make a run for the big flag. I had to cross the line and stand behind the cage wall to survive the ogre and be considered the successor of the trial. But then I saw him running beside .
Ian.
He looked different from the cage–more dangerous, more silent. His face was like stone. He didn’t look at , not even once. He had many flags in his hands. Of course he would make it to the finish line. The rule was clear: a total of 20 flags was the goal. Any fewer, and you’d be thrown back out into the field. And this ti, there wouldn’t be another chance to collect flags.
That’s why the group discussion had been so important, everyone had to work together and only collect 20 flags total. I wasn’t sure how many I had. Maybe more.
That ant soone in our squad didn’t have enough flags.
My eyes went back to Ian He looked determined, but I knew he also hated . It was my fault. I had misunderstood. I thought he was going to betray , so I called the warriors. They locked him up. And now, here he was. In my trial. In my squad.
My chest tightened. If he stayed with , things would go wrong. He wouldn’t trust . Maybe he’d try to get back at . Or worse, we’d fail, just because we couldn’t work together.
I had to do sothing.
There was another flag close by—red. A few ters behind him. A red squad was already forming there. If he had enough black flags, he could go with the red squad instead.
My eyes darted forward. The black zone line was right ahead of us.
I didn’t want to hurt him. I just wanted him out, since he wanted out too. He stepped closer to . Still no words. No expression.
I ran forward like I had seen sothing important. My shoulder hit his, not too hard, not too soft. Just enough. It was on purpose.
He stumbled.
One foot back.
Two steps.
And then, he tripped—right towards the red line.
"What the fuck!" I heard Troy yell at from the black flag line. He had seen sabotage Ian.
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